St. John's School, Ranchi

St. John's School, Ranchi, Jharkhand

The origin of St.John's dates back to July 1869 when Fr. Stockman came to Chaibasa from Calcutta, ten years after two Belgian and one English Jesuit began the Bengal Mission. The Munda tribals (adivasis) of the area were being exploited by tax collectors, landlords, and the British colonizers, and it was not until 1885, with the arrival of Fr. Constant Lievens, that productive contacts were made between the adivasis of the Chotanagpur plateau and the Jesuit missionaries. St. John’s was the first school founded by this mission, in 1887, and named the following year after Saint John Berchmans, a young Belgian Jesuit who had been canonised in Rome that year.

St.John's is one of the oldest schools in the entire region, and had a year-long celebration of its centenary in 1989-90 which was attended by the Chief Minister of the state and hundreds of alumni. The event witnessed a host of celebrations throughout the year and all teachers and students participated in celebrating the glorious 100 years of the school.